Deterrents Abound for Substitutes; Angela Willig-Friedrich Noticed a Shortage of Foreign Language Teachers in Western Pennsylvania after Moving from Tennessee, Where She Spent 15 Years Teaching Spanish to Law Enforcement Professionals. [Derived Headline]

Deterrents Abound for Substitutes; Angela Willig-Friedrich Noticed a Shortage of Foreign Language Teachers in Western Pennsylvania after Moving from Tennessee, Where She Spent 15 Years Teaching Spanish to Law Enforcement Professionals. [Derived Headline]

Martines, Jamie, Tribune-Review/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Angela Willig-Friedrich noticed a shortage of foreign language
teachers in Western Pennsylvania after moving from Tennessee, where
she spent 15 years teaching Spanish to law enforcement
professionals.

The former criminal investigator began to wonder how much
students were learning about the language and the culture.

"Sometimes I have that little voice that says, 'It would be nice
if I could make a little more of a contribution to that,' " said
Willig-Friedrich, who lives in Crescent, Allegheny County.

That motivated her to sign up for the Allegheny Intermediate
Unit's SmartSTART program, which prepares people with a bachelor's
degree in any subject and who do not have a teacher certification
from the state to work as substitute teachers. Schools are required
to hire substitutes who hold a teacher certification first. If none
is available, school districts can employ a substitute with an
emergency certification.

Already busy with tutoring and volunteering with her church,
Willig-Friedrich said she is a little overwhelmed by the online
coursework, classroom observations and mountains of paperwork she
must complete before stepping foot in the classroom as a teacher.
While she is eager to get started, Willig-Friedrich is only at the
beginning of what could be a months-long process.

Schools across the state and region have trouble filling day-to-
day teacher absences, with many districts in Westmoreland County
struggling to cover at least 90 percent of teacher absences each
year, the Tribune-Review reported in January.

Schools across Allegheny County face a similar problem. In many
cases, that means schools must pull classroom assistants or other
staff members from their regular duties to cover several teachers'
schedules for the day because no substitute is available.

The lack of substitutes across the state is largely because of a
decline in graduates from teacher training programs. Instructional
certificates issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Education
declined from 14,764 to 8,615 between 2005 and 2014, meaning there
are fewer people available to serve as both full-time teachers and
substitutes. Special education, science and foreign language
teachers are in particularly high demand.

In light of the substitute shortage, the Allegheny Intermediate
Unit started its SmartSTART program in 2001 to help recruit, train
and retain substitutes to work in local school districts that elect
to participate in the program. The most recent training session was
Jan. 27. Several intermediate units across the state offer similar
training programs for area substitutes.

Alice Gillenberger, human resources coordinator at the Allegheny
Intermediate Unit, said prospective substitutes should make sure the
work is something they really want to do before signing up. They're
expected to do more than baby-sit students or play games all day,
she said.

"You're a teacher," Gillenberger told the group of six
prospective substitutes during the recent training session at the
intermediate unit in Homestead. "You're expected to carry on the
academic program for that class."

As Gillenberger pointed out, being a substitute is not an easy
job. That could partly explain why there is a shortage, said Edward
Fuller, an associate professor at Penn State who specializes in
education policy. …

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Deterrents Abound for Substitutes; Angela Willig-Friedrich Noticed a Shortage of Foreign Language Teachers in Western Pennsylvania after Moving from Tennessee, Where She Spent 15 Years Teaching Spanish to Law Enforcement Professionals. [Derived Headline]

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